Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Jackass star Ryan Dunn pictured in high spirits with female fans at bar before crash... as shocking details emerge of how he died

By Daily Mail Reporter

In good spirits: A new picture shows Jackass star Ryan Dunn in high spirits as he parties at a bar with friends and fans shortly before he crashed his Porsche yesterday morning, killing himself and another passenger

A picture has emerged showing Jackass star Ryan Dunn in high spirits whilst he partied at a bar shortly before he crashed his Porsche killing himself and another passenger.

It comes as the Chester County Coroner released the autopsy results for both men, which reveal that the crash was so violent that it's impossible to determine if they died from the impact itself or from the fire that resulted.

Officials say the toxicology results for both men, which would help determine the role alcohol played in the crash, will be released in four to six weeks.

In the photograph, the 34-year-old is seen smiling and laughing with two female fans at Barnaby's of America bar.

At the time it was taken, Dunn was enjoying a night out with friends, where sources told TMZ he drank at least three light beers and three shots between the hours of 10.30pm and 2.10am.

At approximately 2.30am Dunn died when his sports car flew off the road on Monday, while he was driving to his home in West Goshen, Pennsylvania.

Since the accident, some have suggested that Dunn may have been over the limit at the time of the accident.

Film critic Roger Ebert went one step further by tweeting a message blaming Dunn's fatal car crash on drink-driving.

Taking to Twitter soon after the news broke, Ebert, 69, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, tweeted: 'Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive.'

Wreckage: The charred remains of the Porsche 911 GT3 is towed away as police survey the scene A link to a news story about the accident accompanied his comment.

Dunn's best friend and Jackass co-star Bam Margera has since retaliated on the social networking site, writing late last night: 'I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of s**t roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents about a jackass drunk driving and [he is] one, f*** you!"

He added: 'Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f*****g mouth!'

More of Dunn's loved ones have since rushed to the reality star's defence, insisting that he was not drunk.

Bam's mother April Margera says she does not believe Dunn was driving drunk at the time of his death.

Margera, who appeared in her son's MTV show 'Viva La Bam' with Dunn, says he was not the type of person to get behind the wheel while drunk.

Speaking out: Bam Margera's mother April says she does not believe Dunn was driving drunk at the time of his death

'He is going to be missed by everyone,' April tearfully told the NBC Today Show.

'I have yelled at him for lots of things but he was not a big drinker and he was always responsible as far as I know, so I cannot believe he would do that.

'I am sick because it is a waste, sick because I loved him, sick because he was talented and sick because he is gone.'

Meanwhile the passenger killed in Dunn's fatal car crash has been identified.

Police have confirmed Zachary Hartwell, 30, perished in a fireball car crash in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Hartwell, from West Chester, Philadelphia, had been with Dunn at Barnaby's and appeared in one of the last photographs to be taken of the daredevil before the accident.

The two were drinking with a third unidentified male in a Twitter picture, which was posted hours before the accident.

While Hartwell was not a member of the Jackass crew, he is listed as a production assistant on the second Jackass movie.

He is also credited on IMDb as a 'car stunt driver' in Bam Margera's film Minghags.He was reportedly a recently married Iraq war veteran

Dunn who was famous for his vulgar stunts in the multimillion-dollar TV and movie franchise Jackass, was driving his 2007 Porsche on a highway when it left the road, flipped over a guardrail and crashed into woods before bursting into flames.

Speed may have been a factor in the crash, West Goshen Township police said.

The force of impact shattered the vehicle into several twisted and blackened pieces, leaving the Porsche 911 GT3 unrecognisable except for a door that was thrown from the crash and not incinerated. A 100-foot-long tyre skid marked where the car left the road.

Police said they were able to identify Dunn through his tattoos and hair.

Dunn appeared on MTV shows Jackass and Viva La Bam and the three Jackass big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, Homewrecker, and hosted Proving Ground on the G4 cable network.

G4 spokesman Dave Welch said Proving Ground, which premiered on June 11 with the second episode due to air today, was being shelved until the network could discuss its future.

Dunn's long-time friend and fellow Jackass daredevil Johnny Knoxville tweeted last night: 'Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy.'

Passenger: Zachery Hartwell (right) was killed in Dunn's fatal car crash yesterday. The pair were at a bar with an unidentified friend in Philadelphia before the accident

Dunn also starred in the yet-to-be-released film Living Will. The film's website describes Dunn's character as a 'party bum slacker (who) returns from the dead as a mischievous and perverted ghost'.

MTV praised Dunn's tireless humour and enthusiasm and said he would be missed.

'We are devastated by the tragic loss of Ryan Dunn - a beloved member of the MTV family for more than a decade,' said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Films Group. 'The Jackass brotherhood will never be the same.'

Dunn was born in Ohio and moved at 15 to Pennsylvania, where he met Bam Margera on his first day of high school, according to a biography on his website.

Dunn, Margera, Christopher Raab (known as Raab Himself) and Brandon DiCamillo, under the moniker CKY for 'Camp Kill Yourself', started making videos that featured them skateboarding and performing stunts.

Where the night started: Dunn and Hartwell were both at Barnaby's in West Chester hours before the accident

Dunn was working as a welder and petrol station worker when Knoxville, a friend of Margera's through the skateboarding circuit, asked the crew to allow their videos to be part of the series Jackass, which became a hit on MTV and ran from 2000 to 2002.

Perhaps his most famous stunt, in 2002's Jackass: The Movie, involved inserting a toy car into his bottom and going to a hospital casualty unit, where he made up a story that he was in mysterious pain after passing out at a fraternity party. Dunn's X-ray from the hospital became a popular T-shirt for Jackass fans.

In a 2000 stunt, he dived into a tank at a raw sewage plant wearing flippers, a mask and a snorkel.